The confusion may lie in a detail regarding who will be required to submit Medicare claims electronically by the compliance date of October 16, 2003.

This will not apply to "small" providers of services defined by HIPAA as "physicians or practitioners with fewer than 10 full time equivalent employees." However, the regulations detailing the requirements for implementing these exceptions have not yet been issued.

EVERYONE will be required to comply with HIPAA Privacy and Security requirements. So yes, a plan for how practices are going to comply with these regulations will be required.

E-mail me if you'd like to talk more about this at fevarela@ltvsolutions.com.

Regards,
Paco Varela
LTV Medical Billing Solutions, LLC